2012 Read List
Felt like trying to keep track of the books I read this year, granted it's already a little fuzzy since I'm not exactly sure where some cut off between last year and this year(trimmed out anything there's even a chance I actually started in December though, just to be sure).
That said...
Sticking to fiction/non-GN only for now, but might go back and put non-fiction and GN, possibly as a different list?, in if I feel so inclined.
bolded = currently reading
italicized = reading, but kind paused
striked = I started reading, but didn't care to finish
underlined = finished
1) Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins(reread)- ((SPOILER-ish?))Cried, again, over Rue.((/SPOILER))
2) Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins(reread)- I finally figured out that this tool I use at work is called an awl, thanks to this reread... Also, read some Katniss/Johanna alongside this and Johanna >>>>>> Peeta and Gale, even if it's not that srs a ship to me. ;p
3) everafter by Nell Stark & Trinity Tam- Got bitten by the zombie bug and drawn away from this. Also, not the biggest fan of the writing style, but will come back to...
4) FEED by Mira Grant- I want to love it, but the random 'oh, this is funny, right?' sexism with the one candidate being a stripper and that's how she got elected and ((SPOILER))that a team with two women and a man ends with only the male member still living kinda urks me. I know it was meant in a 'look! despite everyone expecting him to die, he lived! Surprise! Shock!' but... ngl, I was thrilled by a smart female character as lead in a zombie book((/SPOILER)) idk, will see where this goes with the second though since the 'big name bloggers reporting news in a zombie infested world + side of politics of such a world' part still interests me.
5) The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan- After this and the next and the last, I started wondering about zombie stories with queer characters. That said, I actually kinda liked the idea of this, I think. The whole situation with the one girl, vague but I think someone who read it would know what I'm talking about, gave me a little chill. Also, when she was trying to figure out the pattern of the gates, I loved using one the reader would recognize. Only thing that majorly bothered me was with her friend. Idk, the whole idea of forcing three people into relationships in which they'd never be truly happy to assure the happiness of one, especially under the false idea that the person who they love loves them back... ugh.
6) Hare Moon by Carrie Ryan- Really short. Idk. Gave background to a character from Forest of Hands and Teeth that was interesting.
7) Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan- Got a few chapters in before realizing I seemed to need a Carrie Ryan break. Like the way the books are linked together. She does horror well, though I would't mind a bit less romance. After reading this one, I wish I could get a version of The Dark and Hollow Places from Gabry's point of view. Idk, there just feels like so much missing between the two books despite being close together timeline-wise.
8) Divergent by Veronica Roth- It was okay. Without giving too much away, liked the reveal toward the end, liked her growth, liked the general idea of everything. Disliked YA #whatever in which young female character falls for older, sometimes mentor-like, dude. Granted, I think this one was probably one in which it bothered me the least. Also, was thrown by one character somehow gaining very noticeable/clothing outgrowing muscle after only a week of working out. I wish, lol.
9) Matched by Ally Condie- Despite the only similarities between them being that both are dystopian YA books with a teen female main character, it actually felt very similar to Divergent, except that despite its failings, I liked Divergent better? Yet, I'm more interested in picking up the next book with this series than that one, not sure what that says for it. Also, continued want for one of these thousands of 'future in which people gotta pair up/reproduce' stories that bothers to focus on or even mention the existence of folks who aren't interested in the opposite sex.
10) Brave New Worlds edited by John Joseph Adams- Put down for awhile due to 'too many "women lose" scenarios', but finished. Will go back eventually to pick favs/worst
11) Wildefire by Karsten Knight- I loved the idea. I wanted to love this book. But, no. Gods, no pun intended, no. No. No. This book was painful to read. Also, how goddamn many times do you need to describe the Polynesian main character's and her Egyptian (eventual)friend's skin as the color of clay or mud? Oh, and yet another college-aged guy/teen girl main pairing.
12) The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer- Despite familiarity with how Greek myths work, the beginning hit me a little hard. My face was likely all DDDD: for a chapter or so there, but in the end I liked it. It was Greek myth love and righteous Zeus hate and cool idea and fluffy and when I have the money I will likely be buying a hard copy BOUGHT!(this book has been put online for free by the writer).
13) Nine Lives of Chloe King(all three books) by Liz Bradwell- Not sure if this should be counted as three separately, but I read them altogether as one. Conflicting emotions. Russian Cat(lion)people = :D, loved the character's growth, and Kim's adorable but another college-aged dude/teenaged girl scenario, casual sexism and mean girl junk, and queer folks only mentioned as part of straight people joking. Still, it was okay enough to get me to try the TV series. A regret as, few minutes in the first one and I was all 'you made the main character blonde hair and blue-eyed and changed the old white dude trying to kill her into a black man. The fuck....'
14) Bumped by Megan McCafferty- I... whut. ((TW: Lots of creepiness and coercion, and assumed drugging. Story involves a future in which kids, from 11-18, are the only ones still fertile, so the infertile adults manipulate said kids into having sex, getting pregnant, and then selling/giving the baby away.)) The first 80% of the book was pure D: and 'where the hell is this going?', then the last 20% is all D: and 'whoa' I'm not sure if I really liked it, but with all the reproductive rights stuff going on in politics of late, it was definitely interesting. So, yeah, I think I'd like to see where this series goes next. Also, semi-spoiler, well, hello there (minorish) queer character in this 'future in which people gotta pair up/reproduce' story! Other sidenote: Not sure what was going on with race in this book between 'mix matchy preggs' and the repeated stating of the, literal, value of the main characters' whiteness.
15) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood- Like the former, makes for an interesting, re: horrifying, read alongside what is currently going on in reproductive politics and whatnot. That said, this book is just... DDDD: The last time she seems Moira was kinda crushing, but at the same time I appreciate, love, the character. Was something that was missing from all the other similar books I'd read. Also, baffled by reviews that hate on the main character, she was more passive to a degree but not all women are the same and there's nothing wrong with that. Conversely, a lot of the men in the book, especially the Commander and Luke, made me want to punch walls, or just invoked this violent seething rage in me, especially when you know a lot of men do in fact think/act like they do. That said, I like that Nick didn't seem like a 'see, we love men/not all men are bad!' character. Like, I felt he was subtle and presented well. Overall, it wasn't an enjoyable read, but it was one I'd recommend. It's worth reading. That said, still kinda unsure how the epilogue made me feel, other than strengthening my 'fuck "that's how things were and we shouldn't judge the past/different culture's -isms"' mentality. It seemed to carefully avoid actually stating how much has changed. Totally welcome any discussion on this(just epilogue or the whole thing), will likely have to read it again at some point.
16) My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me edited by Kate Bernheimer- Enjoyed Jill Williams's and that the first four were Russian tales. Hated the hell out of the Neil LaBute's, fuck him. Alissa Nutting's was well done, providing the collection's title. Liked Sarah Shun-lien Bynum's The Erkling, the back and forth in the child's thoughts and the mother looking for the doll and just everything. Karen Joy Fowler's was interesting, very different from all the other takes on that story. While I'm not sure I'm a fan of the actual story, the kinda grim world painted by Timothy Schaffert's piece's was fabulous, in an awful way, I could just see it. Kinda wanna draw some parts.
17) The Case of the Not-So-Nice-Nurse by Mabel Maney- Started reading immediately after finishing Handmaid's Tale. Needed some cheesy lesbian parody type reading. Was a fun book, more plot than I was expecting and a trigger warning for anyone who might be interested, there is mention of csa, in a negative/definitely not approving manner but there nonetheless. But still, it was mostly enjoyable, though the writing style takes a moment to settle into, and I definitely think I'll be reading the rest of the series.
18) Delirium by Lauren Oliver- All these YA dystopian series are starting to run together in my mind. Well, mention of queer folks this time at least. Granted, it is only described as something that is cured by 'the cure'. :| I'm not sure how I feel about this one, but I do think it might be one of the better ones? Like, the concept is kinda chilling, a society in which 'love' is wiped out. I only wonder how a whole couple generations of children under such conditions would truly fair, raised by adults who don't love them and only act out the part of parent as is expected of them. Like, I have a lot of ~feelings~ on what is and isn't love and how people do things claiming it to be out of love but it being something else, but this flat out wipes out any chance of love, though there is a lot of implication that it doesn't truly remove the emotion but just suppresses it via her mother being uncurable and flashes in some of the adults in her life. ((SPOILER)While I kinda liked the end, despite liking happy endings well enough, I also like the one that occasionally goes the other way, I only wish the main character had been 'cured'. Don't get me wrong, don't dislike her, I just wanted to see if it actually worked and how it would change the narrative. I'd be interested in reading something from the author from the point of view of a cured sympathizer.((/SPOILER)) That all said, I also really loved her friendship with Hana.
19) Wither by Lauren DeStefano- Geez. This book was depressing, though the end was nice, despite giving me a reaction of 'that's all it took?!' and reminded me a little of the end of Stuart Little(the book). But yeah, goddamn. I mean, a world in which women die at 20 and men die at 25 and this whole system creating this world in which young women are kidnapped to be wealthy men's wives, there isn't much room for positiveness. That said, I liked the relationship between the sister wives and that it's made clear that ((SPOILER))Gabriel and Rhine's relationship isn't all 'omg, love' but something that isn't quite defined with Rhine thinking toward the end of how he's just a servant of the house and she's just the wife and while they kissed, they really hadn't had the privacy and time to figure everything out beyond escaping((/SPOILER)) That said, while I get that he was supposed to be a little sympathetic, I didn't care at all for Linden. Also, found the 'die at this exact age!' thing ridic and there's no sign of queerness to be found and I got the impression of the characters all being white?(though if I was wrong, feel free to point out!)
20) Ammonite by Nicola Griffith- Came up in my search for feminist dystopian novels. Not typically a fan of space stuff, minor exceptions aside, but really enjoyed this. Liked how everything came together, the diverse cast, and a bit of the world the author created. The baby thing amused me, made me think of all the f/f magic!/science!baby fics out there, but you gotta explain their survival somehow, so it worked. Not really sure how to elaborate on my enjoyment of this book, was just a nice 'curl up and totally ignore the work I need to get done to read it' type read. I'd recommend it.
21) Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky- Think this is the last of the YA non-zombie dystopian stuff on my iPod(I loaded my iPod with what I had of this genre and since my iPod is with me at all times, you can see why I've been reading a bit of it, yes?) That said, it is hilarious to me to have read this book on my iPod. I'm not sure how I feel about this book other than a strong dislike of Justin and uneasiness over the writer's playing into rape culture over and over. I mean, the main character is made to feel bad because she's uncomfortable following a guy she barely knows with a bunch of guys she doesn't really know down a dark street to who knows where at night. Then, later, she's blamed for a guy harassing her at a club because 'if only she'd been honest' about her lack of interest, despite her body language screaming it, then the guy totes would have left her alone! At another point she's told that being a woman totally makes being a rebel easier since she can use her looks to 'distract' men and get what she wants, and later does. There's also another iffy point in which she's escaping the police and when the one guy knocks her down she basically pretends she's being sexually assaulted in order to get some random guys who show up to beat up the guy who knocked her down so she can continue to flee(not defending the guy who knocked her down, but the whole scene made me uncomfortable, played too close to the bullshit idea of 'crying rape' or 'the poor innocent man blamed') Blah...
22) The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George- Time for a little YA lesbian fluff(I hope)... Okay, post-reading, was so not so fluffy, but it was enjoyable enough. Teen coming out/hiding angst, political causes, fighting a barely veiled Wal-Mart analogy, vague end that wasn't fairy tale good or bad, and so on. Only thing is that I'm not quite so sure that the cast was really as racially diverse as I pictured them in my head despite the emphasis on diversity and whatnot? Though I hope that's not the case.
23) The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan- Back to more Carrie Ryan, I suppose. Running out of books on my iPod, going to need to fix iTunes soon. In the meantime, zombies? ...So, that was okay. I mean, I liked the main character well enough and the plot was... okay, working around the sheer triggering nature of the Recruiter's 'sanctuary' and the romance(?, I mean... can you even really call it that?). The final bit, getting away from the island, was the best. Horror and struggle and the finale.
24) DEADLINE by Mira Grant- Ah! Still a little iffy stuff similar to my issues with FEED, but overall it was pretty good and I can't wait for the next one!
25) Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides- Keep seeing this suggested, so, yeah. I feel like I'm only continuing this one because I want to see where this is going, which is good enough reason to read any book I suppose. Some of the Callie parts though seem to through me from the book a little in a 'yeah, written by a dude' way, not sure if it's me being critical or really that awkwardly done. Eh. Overall, not sure that I was all that impressed with it. Was a decent read but nothing revolutionary to me.
--) The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood- I just picked up the only Atwood book on the shelf at the library, lol. Gonna be honest with myself, ~70 pages in, but just not feeling into this.
26) BLACKOUT by Mira Grant- Omg, omg, omg. I love these books. Okay, so they're not perfect. There are problematic things that I don't understand the need for other than being ~edgy~, main one: the Democratic nominee being a stripper and (SPOILER)killing herself when she lost to Ryman.(/SPOILER) Just, the fuck? But for the most part the bloggers/news, zombies, clones, and government conspiracy stuff was all pretty awesome. Could easily read these again. Though tiny issues toward the end (SPOILERS!!!!) the 'we'll get someone else and you'll die', paraphrased, line. Ummmm... they just spent billions bringing George back to get Shaun to work with them. If getting someone else was so easy, why wouldn't they do that to begin with? Idk. Also, I was really expecting Shaun to go through the air lock last. Becks... ;_;(/SPOILERS)
27) Eat Your Heart Out by Dayna Ingram- I can't be expected to pass up a book that's advertised as 'A breakneck tale of kick-ass, wise-ass, sexy-ass lesbians and ZOMBIES' Judge, if you must. That said, omg... There's a Michelle Rodriguez character. Like, literally, she's supposed to be her, re: an actor from the "Rising Evil" movies. Even parody-like I'm getting second hand embarrassment here. I can't... But, keep going... this is actually a pretty fun read in a hilarious way. That said, even the characters admit that the ending was kinda anticlimactic. Was amusing at points and the final little bit at the very end was cute, so if you've got a fangirl crush on Rodriguez and can handle a fair amount of bodily fluids(of human and zombie origin), then I'd say give this a shot.
28) The Female Man by Joanna Russ- Heh, reading a used copy and the first part has the old owner's notes all scribbled in it. Was annoyed at first, but they're so simplistic(ex. names of Janet's parents circled and 'Two Moms' written in the margin, a bunch of lines pointing to one underlined sentence and the word 'Weird' written at the end of them, 'anonymous friend-for-the-night' underlined and 'Sleeps around?' written beside it), it's kinda cute. That said, took a few pages to settle into the flow, but think this'll be relevant to my interests, so to speak. Finished! I think I might love this book. Will re-read, but pretty certain. Vague wondering if Perez has read as parts of Janet and a lot of Whileaway made me think of his Amazons. Granted, both involve 'someone from all-female civilization encounters world with men for first time'
29) Monster High 4: Back and Deader Than Ever by Lisi Harrison- Omg, I was semi-interested in the character at first, but wtf is the point of Melody and her storyline anymore? Mostly skimming her parts, ngl. ...okay, finished. I feel like this series had an interesting take on the idea of a 'Monster High' vs. the way the webseries and dolls handle it though ultimately it kinda worked against it. Also, is Granite just supposed to have no feelings/say in things? That was a weird and pointless. Was clear the writer just wanted to get everything over with, rushing the end. Blah.
30) Lunatic Fringe by Allison Moon- The first half or so was kinda fun, fluffy ridiculous at parts. Then, idk. I still liked it, but the story kinda crumbled and left me bored and a little put off by the finale. I feel like the amount of time spent on the one drawn out sex scene, think someone who'd read it would know which I'm talking about, would have been better spent better explaining the whole pureblood/fullblood/halfblood/peacespeaker deal. I like sex scenes, but, outside erotica, I'd like more focus on story. Other con: Main character sympathizing with a rapist. Might just be my personal feelings that made that piss me off though as he was brutally killed(am I supposed to feel bad for him?). Kinda pro: Most of the handling of the Pack and not overly demonizing them(again, idgaf about brutally murdered rapists).
31) Odd Girl Out by Ann Bannon- Been meaning to start on this since reading Beebo Brinker... and now I need to read the rest of the books. Ah, the ending was fairly satisfying all things considered, though want to see where this goes.
32) Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson- Down to the last of the books on my iPod. This touched on a lot of things for me, but recommend it. Trigger warnings: Lots of self-harm, main characters with eating disorders
33) Ash by Malinda Lo(reread)- Ngl, cared little for the Sidhean parts of the story, but the Huntress parts make me all "awwww"
34) Slow River by Nicola Griffith- Have ideas of where this is heading, but enjoying it in a way that I'm content to not speculate too much. There's some interesting ideas here and this being my second Griffith book this year, I gotta say I love her world building abilities. ...Finished! It was okay. Lots of vague feelings on the characters. Like, I understand Spanner to some extent, but have absolutely no sympathy for her, especially for how she treated Lore. With Lore, I sympathize with her, yet the end kinda makes her struggle seem less important given that she apparently didn't need to struggle, yet I did like her growth. Magyar was the best of the three, Ellen and Ruth were likable, Tom too. Everyone else was pretty forgettable, Paolo's little bit aside, to me, even her family. That said, didn't like the book as much as Ammonite, but still enjoyed it enough to make me want to hunt down more by her. Trigger warnings for csa and... sexual coercion? forced prostitution? Not sure how to explain, hope that helps though.
35) Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky- Devoured this all in one gulp at my sister's request, her wanting us to see the movie together. Finished it a day before seeing it, the book definitely came out on top, though from what I've seen of confusion over the ending, the movie made things more clear. Focusing on the book, there are parts I could have done without, but reaching the end, once I'd put it down and thought it over for a moment, the full impact of it kinda hit me. I might have cried. The format, letters, was interesting and worked well for it. I might read it again when I have less on my plate. Trigger warnings: CSA, rape, homophobia, abuse(?) ((SPOILER)) Feels weird that I happened to read two books close together that involved CSA with a female abuser.((/SPOILER))
36) Adaptation by Malinda Lo- Was kinda disappointed. First half is okay but mostly it didn't live up to her other two books. IMO, of course.
37) The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth- Was good. Not sure how I feel about the end and admit I saw a lot of it coming even without having read anything about what the book was about prior to reading, but still was enjoyable.
38) The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman- Took me waaaaay too long to get around to reading this. Was alright.
39) FEED(reread) by Mira Grant- Idk, idk, just really enjoy this series and wanted to revisit the first one again.
40) the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon- remember a friend recc'ing this ages ago. It was... it was what it was. It's hard to describe. Not bad.
Recommendations always welcome! I like zombies, dystopian/post-apocalyptic worlds, lesbian fluff, female main characters, not ignoring the existence of POC/queer folks/ect., horror, monsters of all sorts, mythology and some urban fantasy, queer reimagings, and 1950s-style parody/noir.
That said...
Sticking to fiction/non-GN only for now, but might go back and put non-fiction and GN, possibly as a different list?, in if I feel so inclined.
bolded = currently reading
italicized = reading, but kind paused
striked = I started reading, but didn't care to finish
underlined = finished
1) Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins(reread)- ((SPOILER-ish?))Cried, again, over Rue.((/SPOILER))
2) Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins(reread)- I finally figured out that this tool I use at work is called an awl, thanks to this reread... Also, read some Katniss/Johanna alongside this and Johanna >>>>>> Peeta and Gale, even if it's not that srs a ship to me. ;p
3) everafter by Nell Stark & Trinity Tam- Got bitten by the zombie bug and drawn away from this. Also, not the biggest fan of the writing style, but will come back to...
4) FEED by Mira Grant- I want to love it, but the random 'oh, this is funny, right?' sexism with the one candidate being a stripper and that's how she got elected and ((SPOILER))that a team with two women and a man ends with only the male member still living kinda urks me. I know it was meant in a 'look! despite everyone expecting him to die, he lived! Surprise! Shock!' but... ngl, I was thrilled by a smart female character as lead in a zombie book((/SPOILER)) idk, will see where this goes with the second though since the 'big name bloggers reporting news in a zombie infested world + side of politics of such a world' part still interests me.
5) The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan- After this and the next and the last, I started wondering about zombie stories with queer characters. That said, I actually kinda liked the idea of this, I think. The whole situation with the one girl, vague but I think someone who read it would know what I'm talking about, gave me a little chill. Also, when she was trying to figure out the pattern of the gates, I loved using one the reader would recognize. Only thing that majorly bothered me was with her friend. Idk, the whole idea of forcing three people into relationships in which they'd never be truly happy to assure the happiness of one, especially under the false idea that the person who they love loves them back... ugh.
6) Hare Moon by Carrie Ryan- Really short. Idk. Gave background to a character from Forest of Hands and Teeth that was interesting.
7) Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan- Got a few chapters in before realizing I seemed to need a Carrie Ryan break. Like the way the books are linked together. She does horror well, though I would't mind a bit less romance. After reading this one, I wish I could get a version of The Dark and Hollow Places from Gabry's point of view. Idk, there just feels like so much missing between the two books despite being close together timeline-wise.
8) Divergent by Veronica Roth- It was okay. Without giving too much away, liked the reveal toward the end, liked her growth, liked the general idea of everything. Disliked YA #whatever in which young female character falls for older, sometimes mentor-like, dude. Granted, I think this one was probably one in which it bothered me the least. Also, was thrown by one character somehow gaining very noticeable/clothing outgrowing muscle after only a week of working out. I wish, lol.
9) Matched by Ally Condie- Despite the only similarities between them being that both are dystopian YA books with a teen female main character, it actually felt very similar to Divergent, except that despite its failings, I liked Divergent better? Yet, I'm more interested in picking up the next book with this series than that one, not sure what that says for it. Also, continued want for one of these thousands of 'future in which people gotta pair up/reproduce' stories that bothers to focus on or even mention the existence of folks who aren't interested in the opposite sex.
10) Brave New Worlds edited by John Joseph Adams- Put down for awhile due to 'too many "women lose" scenarios', but finished. Will go back eventually to pick favs/worst
11) Wildefire by Karsten Knight- I loved the idea. I wanted to love this book. But, no. Gods, no pun intended, no. No. No. This book was painful to read. Also, how goddamn many times do you need to describe the Polynesian main character's and her Egyptian (eventual)friend's skin as the color of clay or mud? Oh, and yet another college-aged guy/teen girl main pairing.
12) The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer- Despite familiarity with how Greek myths work, the beginning hit me a little hard. My face was likely all DDDD: for a chapter or so there, but in the end I liked it. It was Greek myth love and righteous Zeus hate and cool idea and fluffy and when I have the money I will likely be buying a hard copy BOUGHT!(this book has been put online for free by the writer).
13) Nine Lives of Chloe King(all three books) by Liz Bradwell- Not sure if this should be counted as three separately, but I read them altogether as one. Conflicting emotions. Russian Cat(lion)people = :D, loved the character's growth, and Kim's adorable but another college-aged dude/teenaged girl scenario, casual sexism and mean girl junk, and queer folks only mentioned as part of straight people joking. Still, it was okay enough to get me to try the TV series. A regret as, few minutes in the first one and I was all 'you made the main character blonde hair and blue-eyed and changed the old white dude trying to kill her into a black man. The fuck....'
14) Bumped by Megan McCafferty- I... whut. ((TW: Lots of creepiness and coercion, and assumed drugging. Story involves a future in which kids, from 11-18, are the only ones still fertile, so the infertile adults manipulate said kids into having sex, getting pregnant, and then selling/giving the baby away.)) The first 80% of the book was pure D: and 'where the hell is this going?', then the last 20% is all D: and 'whoa' I'm not sure if I really liked it, but with all the reproductive rights stuff going on in politics of late, it was definitely interesting. So, yeah, I think I'd like to see where this series goes next. Also, semi-spoiler, well, hello there (minorish) queer character in this 'future in which people gotta pair up/reproduce' story! Other sidenote: Not sure what was going on with race in this book between 'mix matchy preggs' and the repeated stating of the, literal, value of the main characters' whiteness.
15) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood- Like the former, makes for an interesting, re: horrifying, read alongside what is currently going on in reproductive politics and whatnot. That said, this book is just... DDDD: The last time she seems Moira was kinda crushing, but at the same time I appreciate, love, the character. Was something that was missing from all the other similar books I'd read. Also, baffled by reviews that hate on the main character, she was more passive to a degree but not all women are the same and there's nothing wrong with that. Conversely, a lot of the men in the book, especially the Commander and Luke, made me want to punch walls, or just invoked this violent seething rage in me, especially when you know a lot of men do in fact think/act like they do. That said, I like that Nick didn't seem like a 'see, we love men/not all men are bad!' character. Like, I felt he was subtle and presented well. Overall, it wasn't an enjoyable read, but it was one I'd recommend. It's worth reading. That said, still kinda unsure how the epilogue made me feel, other than strengthening my 'fuck "that's how things were and we shouldn't judge the past/different culture's -isms"' mentality. It seemed to carefully avoid actually stating how much has changed. Totally welcome any discussion on this(just epilogue or the whole thing), will likely have to read it again at some point.
16) My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me edited by Kate Bernheimer- Enjoyed Jill Williams's and that the first four were Russian tales. Hated the hell out of the Neil LaBute's, fuck him. Alissa Nutting's was well done, providing the collection's title. Liked Sarah Shun-lien Bynum's The Erkling, the back and forth in the child's thoughts and the mother looking for the doll and just everything. Karen Joy Fowler's was interesting, very different from all the other takes on that story. While I'm not sure I'm a fan of the actual story, the kinda grim world painted by Timothy Schaffert's piece's was fabulous, in an awful way, I could just see it. Kinda wanna draw some parts.
17) The Case of the Not-So-Nice-Nurse by Mabel Maney- Started reading immediately after finishing Handmaid's Tale. Needed some cheesy lesbian parody type reading. Was a fun book, more plot than I was expecting and a trigger warning for anyone who might be interested, there is mention of csa, in a negative/definitely not approving manner but there nonetheless. But still, it was mostly enjoyable, though the writing style takes a moment to settle into, and I definitely think I'll be reading the rest of the series.
18) Delirium by Lauren Oliver- All these YA dystopian series are starting to run together in my mind. Well, mention of queer folks this time at least. Granted, it is only described as something that is cured by 'the cure'. :| I'm not sure how I feel about this one, but I do think it might be one of the better ones? Like, the concept is kinda chilling, a society in which 'love' is wiped out. I only wonder how a whole couple generations of children under such conditions would truly fair, raised by adults who don't love them and only act out the part of parent as is expected of them. Like, I have a lot of ~feelings~ on what is and isn't love and how people do things claiming it to be out of love but it being something else, but this flat out wipes out any chance of love, though there is a lot of implication that it doesn't truly remove the emotion but just suppresses it via her mother being uncurable and flashes in some of the adults in her life. ((SPOILER)While I kinda liked the end, despite liking happy endings well enough, I also like the one that occasionally goes the other way, I only wish the main character had been 'cured'. Don't get me wrong, don't dislike her, I just wanted to see if it actually worked and how it would change the narrative. I'd be interested in reading something from the author from the point of view of a cured sympathizer.((/SPOILER)) That all said, I also really loved her friendship with Hana.
19) Wither by Lauren DeStefano- Geez. This book was depressing, though the end was nice, despite giving me a reaction of 'that's all it took?!' and reminded me a little of the end of Stuart Little(the book). But yeah, goddamn. I mean, a world in which women die at 20 and men die at 25 and this whole system creating this world in which young women are kidnapped to be wealthy men's wives, there isn't much room for positiveness. That said, I liked the relationship between the sister wives and that it's made clear that ((SPOILER))Gabriel and Rhine's relationship isn't all 'omg, love' but something that isn't quite defined with Rhine thinking toward the end of how he's just a servant of the house and she's just the wife and while they kissed, they really hadn't had the privacy and time to figure everything out beyond escaping((/SPOILER)) That said, while I get that he was supposed to be a little sympathetic, I didn't care at all for Linden. Also, found the 'die at this exact age!' thing ridic and there's no sign of queerness to be found and I got the impression of the characters all being white?(though if I was wrong, feel free to point out!)
20) Ammonite by Nicola Griffith- Came up in my search for feminist dystopian novels. Not typically a fan of space stuff, minor exceptions aside, but really enjoyed this. Liked how everything came together, the diverse cast, and a bit of the world the author created. The baby thing amused me, made me think of all the f/f magic!/science!baby fics out there, but you gotta explain their survival somehow, so it worked. Not really sure how to elaborate on my enjoyment of this book, was just a nice 'curl up and totally ignore the work I need to get done to read it' type read. I'd recommend it.
21) Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky- Think this is the last of the YA non-zombie dystopian stuff on my iPod(I loaded my iPod with what I had of this genre and since my iPod is with me at all times, you can see why I've been reading a bit of it, yes?) That said, it is hilarious to me to have read this book on my iPod. I'm not sure how I feel about this book other than a strong dislike of Justin and uneasiness over the writer's playing into rape culture over and over. I mean, the main character is made to feel bad because she's uncomfortable following a guy she barely knows with a bunch of guys she doesn't really know down a dark street to who knows where at night. Then, later, she's blamed for a guy harassing her at a club because 'if only she'd been honest' about her lack of interest, despite her body language screaming it, then the guy totes would have left her alone! At another point she's told that being a woman totally makes being a rebel easier since she can use her looks to 'distract' men and get what she wants, and later does. There's also another iffy point in which she's escaping the police and when the one guy knocks her down she basically pretends she's being sexually assaulted in order to get some random guys who show up to beat up the guy who knocked her down so she can continue to flee(not defending the guy who knocked her down, but the whole scene made me uncomfortable, played too close to the bullshit idea of 'crying rape' or 'the poor innocent man blamed') Blah...
22) The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George- Time for a little YA lesbian fluff(I hope)... Okay, post-reading, was so not so fluffy, but it was enjoyable enough. Teen coming out/hiding angst, political causes, fighting a barely veiled Wal-Mart analogy, vague end that wasn't fairy tale good or bad, and so on. Only thing is that I'm not quite so sure that the cast was really as racially diverse as I pictured them in my head despite the emphasis on diversity and whatnot? Though I hope that's not the case.
23) The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan- Back to more Carrie Ryan, I suppose. Running out of books on my iPod, going to need to fix iTunes soon. In the meantime, zombies? ...So, that was okay. I mean, I liked the main character well enough and the plot was... okay, working around the sheer triggering nature of the Recruiter's 'sanctuary' and the romance(?, I mean... can you even really call it that?). The final bit, getting away from the island, was the best. Horror and struggle and the finale.
24) DEADLINE by Mira Grant- Ah! Still a little iffy stuff similar to my issues with FEED, but overall it was pretty good and I can't wait for the next one!
25) Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides- Keep seeing this suggested, so, yeah. I feel like I'm only continuing this one because I want to see where this is going, which is good enough reason to read any book I suppose. Some of the Callie parts though seem to through me from the book a little in a 'yeah, written by a dude' way, not sure if it's me being critical or really that awkwardly done. Eh. Overall, not sure that I was all that impressed with it. Was a decent read but nothing revolutionary to me.
--) The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood- I just picked up the only Atwood book on the shelf at the library, lol. Gonna be honest with myself, ~70 pages in, but just not feeling into this.
26) BLACKOUT by Mira Grant- Omg, omg, omg. I love these books. Okay, so they're not perfect. There are problematic things that I don't understand the need for other than being ~edgy~, main one: the Democratic nominee being a stripper and (SPOILER)killing herself when she lost to Ryman.(/SPOILER) Just, the fuck? But for the most part the bloggers/news, zombies, clones, and government conspiracy stuff was all pretty awesome. Could easily read these again. Though tiny issues toward the end (SPOILERS!!!!) the 'we'll get someone else and you'll die', paraphrased, line. Ummmm... they just spent billions bringing George back to get Shaun to work with them. If getting someone else was so easy, why wouldn't they do that to begin with? Idk. Also, I was really expecting Shaun to go through the air lock last. Becks... ;_;(/SPOILERS)
27) Eat Your Heart Out by Dayna Ingram- I can't be expected to pass up a book that's advertised as 'A breakneck tale of kick-ass, wise-ass, sexy-ass lesbians and ZOMBIES' Judge, if you must. That said, omg... There's a Michelle Rodriguez character. Like, literally, she's supposed to be her, re: an actor from the "Rising Evil" movies. Even parody-like I'm getting second hand embarrassment here. I can't... But, keep going... this is actually a pretty fun read in a hilarious way. That said, even the characters admit that the ending was kinda anticlimactic. Was amusing at points and the final little bit at the very end was cute, so if you've got a fangirl crush on Rodriguez and can handle a fair amount of bodily fluids(of human and zombie origin), then I'd say give this a shot.
28) The Female Man by Joanna Russ- Heh, reading a used copy and the first part has the old owner's notes all scribbled in it. Was annoyed at first, but they're so simplistic(ex. names of Janet's parents circled and 'Two Moms' written in the margin, a bunch of lines pointing to one underlined sentence and the word 'Weird' written at the end of them, 'anonymous friend-for-the-night' underlined and 'Sleeps around?' written beside it), it's kinda cute. That said, took a few pages to settle into the flow, but think this'll be relevant to my interests, so to speak. Finished! I think I might love this book. Will re-read, but pretty certain. Vague wondering if Perez has read as parts of Janet and a lot of Whileaway made me think of his Amazons. Granted, both involve 'someone from all-female civilization encounters world with men for first time'
29) Monster High 4: Back and Deader Than Ever by Lisi Harrison- Omg, I was semi-interested in the character at first, but wtf is the point of Melody and her storyline anymore? Mostly skimming her parts, ngl. ...okay, finished. I feel like this series had an interesting take on the idea of a 'Monster High' vs. the way the webseries and dolls handle it though ultimately it kinda worked against it. Also, is Granite just supposed to have no feelings/say in things? That was a weird and pointless. Was clear the writer just wanted to get everything over with, rushing the end. Blah.
30) Lunatic Fringe by Allison Moon- The first half or so was kinda fun, fluffy ridiculous at parts. Then, idk. I still liked it, but the story kinda crumbled and left me bored and a little put off by the finale. I feel like the amount of time spent on the one drawn out sex scene, think someone who'd read it would know which I'm talking about, would have been better spent better explaining the whole pureblood/fullblood/halfblood/peacespeaker deal. I like sex scenes, but, outside erotica, I'd like more focus on story. Other con: Main character sympathizing with a rapist. Might just be my personal feelings that made that piss me off though as he was brutally killed(am I supposed to feel bad for him?). Kinda pro: Most of the handling of the Pack and not overly demonizing them(again, idgaf about brutally murdered rapists).
31) Odd Girl Out by Ann Bannon- Been meaning to start on this since reading Beebo Brinker... and now I need to read the rest of the books. Ah, the ending was fairly satisfying all things considered, though want to see where this goes.
32) Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson- Down to the last of the books on my iPod. This touched on a lot of things for me, but recommend it. Trigger warnings: Lots of self-harm, main characters with eating disorders
33) Ash by Malinda Lo(reread)- Ngl, cared little for the Sidhean parts of the story, but the Huntress parts make me all "awwww"
34) Slow River by Nicola Griffith- Have ideas of where this is heading, but enjoying it in a way that I'm content to not speculate too much. There's some interesting ideas here and this being my second Griffith book this year, I gotta say I love her world building abilities. ...Finished! It was okay. Lots of vague feelings on the characters. Like, I understand Spanner to some extent, but have absolutely no sympathy for her, especially for how she treated Lore. With Lore, I sympathize with her, yet the end kinda makes her struggle seem less important given that she apparently didn't need to struggle, yet I did like her growth. Magyar was the best of the three, Ellen and Ruth were likable, Tom too. Everyone else was pretty forgettable, Paolo's little bit aside, to me, even her family. That said, didn't like the book as much as Ammonite, but still enjoyed it enough to make me want to hunt down more by her. Trigger warnings for csa and... sexual coercion? forced prostitution? Not sure how to explain, hope that helps though.
35) Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky- Devoured this all in one gulp at my sister's request, her wanting us to see the movie together. Finished it a day before seeing it, the book definitely came out on top, though from what I've seen of confusion over the ending, the movie made things more clear. Focusing on the book, there are parts I could have done without, but reaching the end, once I'd put it down and thought it over for a moment, the full impact of it kinda hit me. I might have cried. The format, letters, was interesting and worked well for it. I might read it again when I have less on my plate. Trigger warnings: CSA, rape, homophobia, abuse(?) ((SPOILER)) Feels weird that I happened to read two books close together that involved CSA with a female abuser.((/SPOILER))
36) Adaptation by Malinda Lo- Was kinda disappointed. First half is okay but mostly it didn't live up to her other two books. IMO, of course.
37) The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth- Was good. Not sure how I feel about the end and admit I saw a lot of it coming even without having read anything about what the book was about prior to reading, but still was enjoyable.
38) The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman- Took me waaaaay too long to get around to reading this. Was alright.
39) FEED(reread) by Mira Grant- Idk, idk, just really enjoy this series and wanted to revisit the first one again.
40) the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon- remember a friend recc'ing this ages ago. It was... it was what it was. It's hard to describe. Not bad.
Recommendations always welcome! I like zombies, dystopian/post-apocalyptic worlds, lesbian fluff, female main characters, not ignoring the existence of POC/queer folks/ect., horror, monsters of all sorts, mythology and some urban fantasy, queer reimagings, and 1950s-style parody/noir.